Seven people have died when a jeep carrying Sri Lankan tourists hit a landmine in a national park in the northwest of the country. The army found bodies in a destroyed jeep in Wilpattu National Park, near the area held by the Tamil Tigers. The park had reopened in 2003, after being closed for 17 years due to a conflict which has left 60,000 dead. The army said the Tamil Tigers were suspected, as "there is no-one else operating in those areas". Sri Lanka has been rocked by conflict since the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) launched their campaign for a separate state in the north of the country in 1983. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on Sunday his party will do "very very well" in November's mid-term elections but stopped short of saying Democrats will retake the U.S. Senate. "I think that we're going to do very very well," Schumer, one of the party's top political strategists, told CBS' "Face the Nation." "The American people want change ... because this administration has been incompetent. ... They see an administration that seems to substitute ideology and cronyism for competence." "The Republicans are not ahead in a single blue seat and we are even or ahead in five of theirs," Schumer said, in a reference to Republican "red" states mostly in the south and west and Democrat "blue" states mostly in north central and coastal regions of the country. If Americans continue to vote for the Democrats or the Republicans after being showing that both these parties are corrupted beyond repair then they deserve these ass holes...http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060528/pl_nm/congress_democrats_dc

A father threw his two children from a 15th floor balcony before jumping to his own death, police have said. Edward van Dyk, 43, killed his two sons - aged four and eight - when he tossed them from a hotel balcony in Miami. Van Dyk's wife Qinuo, 40, spotted him as he leapt from the balcony, and only then saw the bodies of her two children lying motionless many floors below. Mrs van Dyk told police that the couple were having marital problems, but were marking their 10th wedding anniversary. "It's a terrible tragedy," said Miami Beach Police spokesman Bobby Hernandez. The killings took place at the Loews Hotel in the famous art-deco district of Miami's South Beach. "It's unfortunate that this gentleman was so selfish and in an effort to get back at his wife he took the two most loved people in the world away from her," Mr Hernandez added. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5024562.stm

The Senate plan to provide illegal immigrants with a shot at citizenship probably is a deal-breaker that will prevent passage of a compromise on immigration overhaul, the House’s lead negotiator said Sunday. “The words ‘path to citizenship’ is a buzzword for amnesty. We ought to be honest, it is amnesty,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate bill passed last week would tighten, offer a guest worker programs to bring in new foreign workers and provide a chance at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country. The House bill generally is limited to border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13018892/from/RSS/

The look and rhetoric are pure Iran. On the wall hangs a portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the robed and turbaned speaker is a powerful Shiite Muslim leader. America? "The mother of all evils," says Ghorband Ali Tawassuly in an interview, sitting beneath the late Iranian revolutionary's picture. What if America attacks Iran? "God forbid," he replies. And if Iran's leader sends an order to Tawassuly and his men to rise up? "We will obey it." However, this is not Iran but Pakistan, specifically its rugged, violence-wracked province of Baluchistan, where discontent with the central government 900 miles away in Islamabad feeds a long-running guerrilla war that some fear could get a lot of worse if the United States should attack Iran's nuclear facilities. ...http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/ISL10505251316_sp.jpeg

Colombians vote in a presidential election later on Sunday, with the massive security surrounding the poll itself an election issue. President Alvaro Uribe, running for a second term, says it will be the safest election in many years. Opinion polls suggest he will win a thumping victory, without the need for a second round of voting. Correspondents say he has had a measure of success with his policy of fighting terrorism and drug trafficking gangs. Polls suggest Mr Uribe's closest challenger is left-wing senator Carlos Gaviria, but that he trails by about 30% of the vote, compared to the president's 55%. Some 220,000 soldiers and police officers have been put on duty for the election, which begins at 0900 (1300 GMT), to safeguard the six presidential candidates and 26.7 million voters. Voting ends at 1700 local time, with the first results expected a few hours later. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5024428.stm